Oxford Spine Buddies: an acceptability and feasibility project for peer-to-peer support in a spine sarcoma service.

BACKGROUND: Primary bone and soft tissue sarcoma of the spine are rare and account for less than 0.2% of all neoplasm incidences. Following a patient and public involvement event, the need to explore patient support pathways was identified, which initiated this service evaluation project. AIM: To determine the acceptability and feasibility of a peer-to-peer support project among people using the spine sarcoma service. METHODS: Users were paired and introduced via Microsoft Teams. Quantitative and qualitative data both pre- and post-introduction of a buddy were collected. FINDINGS: Service users felt that, although they would have preferred having a buddy at the time of their diagnosis, being allocated a buddy made them feel reassured and better supported. CONCLUSION: The project was well received and preliminary data are encouraging. Therefore, due to early findings from the first participants, the service is continuing to roll out the buddy programme.

Spinal sarcomas and immunity: An undervalued relationship.

Sarcomas, especially spine sarcomas, are rare yet debilitating and are underestimated types of cancer. Treatment options for spine sarcomas are limited to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical intervention. Accumulating evidence suggests a complex course associated with the treatment of spine sarcomas as compared to other soft tissue sarcomas in the extremities since adjuvant therapy adds limited success to the oncological outcome. Likewise, the limitations of surgical interventions imposed by the proximity and high sensitivity of the spinal cord, leads to an increased recurrence and mortality rates associated with spine sarcomas. Finding novel treatment options to spine sarcomas as such is inevitable, necessitating a more thorough understanding of the different mechanisms of the underlying etiologies of these tumors. In this review, we discuss the most recent studies tackling the involvement of the immune system; a key player in the emergence of the different types of spine sarcomas and the promising immune-mediated targeted therapy that can be applied in these kind of rare cancers.

Mobile Spine Osseous Sarcoma: Descriptive Epidemiological Analysis Based on a National Population-Based Study.

BACKGROUND: Primary osseous sarcomas of the mobile spine are rare bony tumors. Ewing sarcoma, chondrosarcoma, chordoma and osteosarcoma constitute the majority of primary bone sarcomas of the spine; however, other rare sarcoma tumors may also affect the spine. In order to perform an epidemiological study of theses tumors, national registries may help to evaluate data for populations with similar characteristics. METHODS: A population-based study was designed based on data from the Iran National Cancer Registry (INCR). All morphology codes (M-Code) of primary osseous sarcomas of the mobile spine (C-code 41.2) were derived and analyzed. RESULTS: Among 186 patients with primary osseous sarcomas of the mobile spine, 67.2% were men and 32.8% were women. The median (IQR) age was 37.0 (20.0-59.0) years and the age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR) was 0.37 per million. The majority of cases of Ewing sarcoma (29.5%) were observed in the age group 20-25 years. Among male patients with chondrosarcoma, the median age was 39.0 (30.0-50.0), while females showed a median age of 56.0 (50.0-59.0). The median age of patients with chordoma was 54.0 (47.0-63.0) years. The crude incidence rate of mobile spine osteosarcoma was 0.04 per million. CONCLUSION: Ewing sarcoma was the most frequent primary osseous sarcoma of the mobile spine. A male predilection was observed among all major sarcomas of the mobile spine. Ewing sarcoma in Iran affects the mobile spine in slightly older ages compared to other studies. Myxoid chondrosarcoma is the most frequent subtype of the mobile spine chondrosarcoma. Chordoma affects male in older ages compared to females. In contrast with other studies which showed a bimodal distribution of osteosarcoma of the spine including young adult and older age groups, 86% of cases in Iran were in the age group of 10-40 years.

Palliative Care of Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma of Spine with Cord Compression and Multiple Bone Metastases Treated by Multidisciplinary Therapy: Case Report.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the spine is rare, with only a few dozen cases reported in the literature. A 60-year-old male was referred to us with symptoms of thoracic myelopathy. A solid tumor in the Th8 right costovertebral junction invading the spinal canal and compressing the spinal cord, and multiple bony metastases were discovered. Biopsy confirmed MFH. The thoracic spine tumor showed good response to irradiation followed by embolization and partial resection. The patient was followed until his death 22 months later. A good quality of life was sustained for more than 18 months. Despite a poor prognosis and an aggressive course of MFH of the spine, a good quality of life could be sustained for more than a year with palliative interventions.